Spring is coming. After a long winter and rain, we are rediscovering the benefits of the sun, the wonder of flourishing flora, and we have wandered through the countryside, the city, by the sea or in the mountains.
Yet, many of us rubbed our eyes, felt unpleasant sensations of small stones under our eyelids and this beautiful weekend, which promised to be so pleasant, was marred by a few inconveniences due to allergic conjunctivitis.
This is how, for some, beautiful spring days end with red, itchy eyes and swollen eyelids. For a few unfortunates, these will be very serious situations leading to anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal.
The most prepared had their eye drops. Others can rinse their eyes with water, but the best is seawater!
These very unpleasant and sometimes serious harms come from pollen carried by the wind from some of our most beautiful trees. These include: alder, birch, hornbeam, hazel, chestnut, oak, beech, olive, ash, privet, cypress, willow, poplar.
To this must be added grasses and pretty flowers such as the daisy or the marguerite, but also wheat, barley, nettles. All regions are affected.
It should be noted that the first pollens are present in the air in March and April, but we find them from May until July. The Rhône Alpes region experiences problems with ragweed until August and September. This period is therefore quite long.
Due to the range of allergens to which we can be sensitive, measures must be taken to protect ourselves as much as possible from airborne pollen during these periods.
Simple actions to fight allergies
What to do?
- Close house windows, but also car windows in case of wind, do not hang laundry outside to prevent pollen from settling on it, and especially avoid other sources of allergies that can amplify the effect of attacks.
- Be careful with dust and dust mites, as well as pet dander and all fruits or food products to which you are sensitive and which cause throat or lip tingling or even fever.
- Protect your eyes: equip yourself with sunglasses or protective wraparound glasses, especially when working outdoors.
- Equip yourself with respiratory masks for gardening: since the COVID period, we all have respiratory masks at home, take advantage of them to also use them for various tasks.
In September, you can start a desensitization treatment. You must wait until the pollen and grass season is over to begin. In 2 to 3 years, the effect of desensitization will be manifest and after a few years, a bad memory.
Adults and children, more and more of us are subject to these allergy attacks, to pollens, to grasses, to foods… Our ancestors and the older ones among us were and are less so, because they were confronted with a less immunized world. From childhood, they were able to develop protections that we no longer have in our aseptic world.
However, we must take into account our reality and above all protect fragile people from a certain massive exposure to allergenic attacks while waiting for them to be desensitized.
During this period, the cat should no longer sleep on the bed but in the next room for some time. Above all, don't part with him! That will not solve anything and will only be a gratuitous and irresponsible abandonment.
To your vacuum cleaners! A spring cleaning is in order.
